forces in the universe
by cedricsowner
Summary: Totally pointless end of the year Morgan/Garcia fluff. Overwhelmed by the really lovely feedback I've made it a two-shot.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement. **

"What's the matter, Spence?" Steaming coffee cup in hand, JJ came walking over to Reid's desk.

He didn't react at all, just kept pouring over the sheets of paper he had been staring at for the past ten minutes or so. They didn't look like they belonged to a case file, handwritten as they were. Apparently someone had made a row of calculations with a plethora of formulae in blue ink and then someone else had corrected it in red ink. Lots of red ink.

JJ put her cup on his desk with a loud _tock _sound.

Still no reaction from Reid.

She pulled up a chair, sat down and gave the desk a not-exactly-subtle kick that caused the coffee right next to his left hand to slosh dangerously.

Did Dr. Reid in any way acknowledge her presence or the imminent peril of his documents getting soaked with brown liquid?

No.

"I'm getting worried", JJ told Prentiss, who had come over from the coffee machine to join her.

"Don't worry, he's just a bit puzzled, that's all."

When JJ threw _her_ a puzzled look, Prentiss explained: "He's tutoring a course in advanced algebra at the local college. A favor for an old professor of his. They had some trouble finding a suitable teacher on short notice and Reid stepped in. Now the students had to take an important test, something out of the ordinary schedule, and one of them spectacularly failed…"

"I explained this to him four times! And he still started exactly the way he always started, although I explicitly told him…even wrote it down for him…" Reid was talking more to himself than to the others. "He kept saying his way works just as well…"

"Kid, you've just run into the greatest force in the universe", Morgan told the young doctor, approaching the desk now, too. Garcia, coming out of her office for a quick chat with the girls, was in close pursuit.

Reid frowned in confusion at Morgan's comment."Greatest force in the universe? Which one, the Strong Nuclear force that operates inside the nucleus? Between the nucleons? Or the electromagnetic interaction mediated by photons?"

"I'm talking about the force that causes wars, stricken power plants, oil in the Gulf of Mexico and tons of broken marriages – stupidity. Sometimes people just don't want to listen, they think they don't need advice, they're too proud to accept help or a mixture of all those factors. It's not your fault."

"Or they just don't see something good, even if it's right before your eyes", Garcia chimed in. She was not looking at Reid at all. Her eyes were trained on Morgan.

"Sometimes stupidity can take on the form of blindness. People walk through their life without recognizing that it could be so much better, if they only paid a little more attention."

"Everything okay, babygirl?", Morgan asked, slightly confused as her uncharacteristically harsh tone.

Garcia however, just turned and walked away.

"I'd really like to kick Kevin's ass for breaking up with her so shortly after Christmas", he grumbled, watching her retreating backside.

"I don't think it's Kevin's ass you should kick", Prentiss corrected him. "_She _broke up with _him_, didn't you know?"

"_She?_ But why…?"

"There's a force in the universe even stronger than stupidity, Derek", JJ explained softly. "And she felt she couldn't ignore it anymore."

It took a while till that message got through, but in the evening Garcia received an unexpected telephone call that led to an even more unexpected invitation for New Year's eve.

Talk about a promising beginning…


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I don't own Criminal Minds and intend no copyright infringement. **

_~ para Lenika08 ~_

Penelope Garcia liked perfume. In fact she owned quite a collection, the usual brand names, but also some more exclusive, limited stuff that was harder to get by. Lately, however, she had developed an interest in antique perfume bottles, dating back to the 19th and early 20th century.

The perfume in all of those bottles was long gone – a 1920 bottle with actual perfume in it was David Rossi's income level, not hers – but faint traces of their original content still lingered in most of them. Aside from that, they were plain beautiful: Her European bottles from the 1920's displayed lavish Art Deco styling, while the one from 1899 was adorned with hand-painted roses.

Sighing, she took her favorite 1920s bottle and weighed it in her hand. It was made of heavy dark green glass, pear shaped, with a silver floral pattern overlay. The antique dealer had told her it had once belonged to a cabaret dancer and Garcia sometimes opened the bottle, closed her eyes and imagined herself with beauty spot, thick red lipstick and bobbed hair, smoking cigarettes with a thin black holder while outside the audience was eagerly waiting.

Huh, her hidden side. Her BAU family would probably be surprised, should they get wind of her darker fantasies… she wouldn't mind letting Derek Morgan get a glimpse of it tonight, though. Alas, the perfume in the bottle was no more, and her challenge now was to choose from her regular ones the scent that would help best to turn this New Year's Eve into a truly new and auspicious beginning.

All fragrances she had ever worn when around Kevin were out of question. So was the rather subtle stuff she usually wore at the office. She was tired of waiting, tired of being patient. A year ago she would have never talked to Morgan as harshly as she had done in the bullpen yesterday – but so much had happened this year… the ordeal with the self-support group, poor Monica, who had spent her life waiting for her daughter… Monica's fate had made it crystal clear to her: She would not spent her life waiting.

On the other hand, she didn't want to put Derek off. Scents were such a strong biologic force; they subconsciously influenced all living beings… she had once seen a documentary about pheromones… So, which of her perfumes would get most likely what she wanted, would get her, dare she dream it, into Derek's arms? The new Japanese fragrance that had arrived only yesterday, or maybe the classic stuff she had started using back in the eighties? This was difficult! The mere thought of blundering now, after all that wishing and hoping…

Ah, but she knew someone who could surely give her scientifically-supported advice, probably even verified with a reference to a rarely known statistic or two. She speed-dialed Reid.

"I'd definitely go with the Japanese fragrance…_atishoo_… judging from its components…_sniffle_… " The conversation was interrupted for a moment by what sounded like a violent sneezing attack.

"Dr. Reid, are you sick?"

"Just a cold, don't worry." More sneezing.

Garcia immediately forgot all worries about fragrances. "You don't sound well at all – you should fix yourself a hot lemonade. And chicken soup! Don't you dare go outside, you're herewith banned to bed, give your little genius brain cells a chance to rest."

"Cooking chicken soup from bed would not only be dangerous, it is also spatially impossible. My bedroom and my kitchen are separated areas."

Jeez, he was actually meaning what he was saying. Every word in all seriousness. "Did you check your temperature?"

"I broke my thermometer last week, during an experiment. Had no time to replace it yet. Very interesting experiment, by the way. I took baking soda… ATISHOO…"

"That's it, Dr. Reid. I'm at your door in sixty minutes, tops."

She cut the connection before he could object or she could change her mind.

The next telephone call she had to make… it was hard… "I'm so sorry, Derek. It's not his fault – at this time of year it's almost impossible to escape all those little viruses around us…like spaceships attacking the death star… I bet even Vader would be sneezing under his helmet right now… talk about greatest force in the universe… And he's all alone…"

Morgan wasn't exactly happy about her decision. Garcia was pretty sure he grumbled something about Reid not being a baby right before he put down the phone.

Two hours later she had brought a protesting Reid to bed and emotionally blackmailed him into eating her chicken soup although he was not hungry. Little Lord Fauntleroy on the TV sent him off to sleep soon after and Garcia was preparing for a quiet turn of the year.

Just then her cell phone vibrated. A text message from Derek.

_Open Reid's door. _

Shocked, flabbergasted, astounded, all rolled into one, Garcia hurried to the entrance – there was Derek, carrying a grocery bag and a smile she'd almost have called shy.

"You're not angry with me?"

"Friendship is just another form of love, isn't it? And if love is the greatest force in the universe, who am I to go against it?"

For a moment they both stood very still. Then she rose on her tiptoes, stepped forward and brushed her lips against his. He slowly let the grocery bag slide to the floor, pulled her into his arms and deepened the kiss.

A very promising beginning indeed.


End file.
